Envelop-fastener.



No. 808,489. PATENTED DEG.26,1905.

B. B, STIMPSON.

BNVELOP FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 19. 1904.

UNITE El STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1905.

Application filed luly 18, 1904:. Serial No. 217,037.

1'0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN BALL STIMPsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, in the city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelop-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of fastening devices ordinarily made from sheet metal and employed for securing the flaps of envelops and for similar purposes and uses; and the object of the invention is to provide a fastener having'an extended and firm base with the maximum space between the securing-clips and at the same time to avoid waste.

material in cutting the fasteners from the sheet metal. I11 this construction all of the metal employed may go into the fastener and is utilized.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention in its preferred form, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fastener in its finished shape with the two long prongs bent into their upright position. Fig. 2 shows the fastener secured by its clips to the body of an envelop. Fig. 3 shows the fastener in its flat form before the clips are formed on it. Fig. 4 illustrates the mode of cutting the fasteners from a strip of sheet metal without waste. Fig. 5 is a view, on a larger scale than Fig. 4, illustrating the swaging of the clips before cutting the fasteners from the strip.

In its flat form, as seen in Fig. 3, the fastenerhas the form of alozenge, with the prongs out or punched from the same. 1 designates the body, and 2 the prongs. Fig. 1 shows these prongs bent upright, so as to stand side by side near the middle of the base, as they must to pass through hole or eyelet in the flap of the envelop. The securing-clips 3 are formed by bending back angles or corners of the lozenge or quadrilateral to about a right angle to the face thereof. All four of the corners may be so bent back, as seen in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows one application of the fastener. In this view E designates the body of an envelop or paper mailing-bag, and F the flap of the same, having in it the usual eyelet or reinforced hole h. The clips of the fastener, which are passed through the ply of the envelop and clenched on the inside thereof, are indicated in this view by dotted lines.

Fig. 4, which is a somewhat diagrammatic and illustrative view, shows how the lozengeshaped fasteners are cut, along oblique lines y, from a strip S of metal without waste of the material, the prongs 2 being punched from the body 1 by a die. The two fasteners at the right in this figure are shown as detached and that one at the extreme right has itls angles bent back to form the securing- 0 ms.

It is desirable to have the securing-clips swaged to a rather thin edge at the point where they pass through the paper, and this may be done with dies while the clips are still in the strip. This is illustratedin the somewhat dia rammatic view Fig. 5. In this view the c ips are line-shaded at 2 to indicate the swaging to thin them at the points.

It will be noted that this construction of the fastener avoids all waste of stock; that it avoids excessive wear of the dies by reason of the small proportion of punching-out and cutting required from the dies; that it provides an extended base with widely-separated points of attachment to the envelop, a matter of great importance where the paper of the envelop is inferior, and that it puts all the metal of the stock used into the fastener.

Of course the form of the quadrilateral may be varied somewhat without departing from the invention but for general use the lozenge form shown is that preferred.

The length of the prongs 2 is not material to the invention. They may extend entirely out to the angle of the uadrilateral.

Having thus descri ed my invention, I claim 1. A fastener, having a primarily quadrilateralbody with portions at aplurality of the angles thereof bent back to form securingclips, and a prong or prongs punched from the body.

2. A fastener, having a primarilyquadri- I lateral lozenge-shaped body with portions at.

a plurality of the angles thereof bent back to form securing-clips, and its prongs punched from the body.

3. A fastener, having a primarily quadrilateral body with portions at a plurality of its angles bent back and swaged to form sharp securing-clips, and having its prongs punched from the body. 1

4. A fastener of sheet metal, having a primarily lozenge-shaped body with prongs 2 punched out therefrom, and having securingprongs 3 formed by bending back its angles or corners to a position substantially at right angles to its face.

5. A fastener, having a primarily quadribent outward from the face of the same in a lateral body with portions ata plurality of the direction opposite to that in which the clips angles thereof bent back to form securingproject, said prongs being face to face and clips, and a prong or prongs punched from connected to the base at points neartogether. I 5

5 the body and projecting therefrom in a direc- In witness whereof I have hereunto signed tion opposite to that in which the securingmy name, this 14th day of July, 1904, in the clips project. presence of two subscribing witnesses.

6. An envelop-fastener of sheet metaLhav- EDWIN BALL STIMPSON. ing a primarily quadrilateral form with por- Witnesses: 1o tions at its angles bent back to form securing- HENRY CoNNE'r'r,

clips, and prongs punched from the body and BENJAMIN PL HOLT 

